Connecting in and out of the stadium

I recently attended SportPro Live and the Twickenham Tech Day events and both have drilled home the fact there is a huge buzz around the whole of the sports world regarding connecting with fans, driving content and monetising supporter base.

At the very heart of this is the ‘connected stadium’ piece of the puzzle, the ability to connect fans inside and outside an arena to premium content, services, offers and each other in some cases.

Most IPTV and Digital Signage solutions offer a very vague, superficial connected stadium environment, often standing alone from other systems and not providing the intelligent, live and engaging experience oft sought after by stadium managers, chief executives and marketing teams.

Tripleplay has recently engaged with a similarly named, but completely separate software solutions provider, Triple Jump Technologies at Twickenham Stadium, delivering an intelligent Digital Signage solution that empowers screens to drive footfall and crowd flow intelligently to quieter areas of the stadium, to bars with a smaller queue and to products that are not hitting sales targets.

Triple Jump’s platform uses live financial analytics to trigger content in the Tripleplay platform, which can be integrated into live TV streams, camera feeds or digital menu boards to enhance the experience, allow fans to spend more time in their seats, make more trips to the bar and spend less of their time stood in queues.

Integration; this, to me, is where the real value from the connected stadium comes. What is the point in having stadium technology that cannot speak to each other? It all runs on IP, it all utilises the same network, so why can’t it talk to each other?

The industry is moving towards this model, just like many other industries are too. While you may be able to connect your fans to the club from anywhere in the world, it is important to remember that there is huge value to connection of technologies and services within the stadium itself.

Our platform links in to Electronic Point of Sales (EPOS) systems, Property Management Systems (PMS), sports analytics software, production streams and fan engagement apps; do other hardware based solutions offer that kind of flexibility?

Not in my knowledge.

Do you focus on connecting within the club or outside of the club? The answer should be both.